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Presents a procedural framework for the inspection of domestic property. A mechanistic task, such as sketching the site plan and roof plan, is advocated in order to achieve focus, familiarity and freedom to undertake the inspection alone. An inspection of the exterior followed by the interior is recommended and a “top‐down” procedure is suggested. The type of information to record and how to record it are both discussed and reference is made to the existing and forthcoming benchmark standards of SAVA.

Presents an early publication of the results of an RICS Research Foundation Education Trust funded project to investigate the use of modern non‐destructive test equipment during surveys. Discusses the data collection and analysis phases in detail followed by the presentation of the preliminary findings of a national postal questionnaire survey of 143 building surveying practices. Stays confined to a discussion on the largest data set – equipment used for commercial and industrial surveys. New technology has made some impact in that more surveyors are using digital cameras and electronic measurement aids but little use is being made of portable materials testing equipment. The results have indicated that there are increasing trends in the use of endoscopes, some environmental measuring aids, metal detectors and electrical installation testing by surveyors.

Building defects are notoriously difficult to identify, even by the most experienced surveyor. Traditional training methods of identifying defects in buildings involved the physical visiting of a property. This has become more difficult as insurance and organisational issues have made this practice unsafe and costly. Methods of training surveyors can be brought up to date with the introduction of desktop technology to provide learners with a rich set of learning resources in a much easier format. Defects generated from real life cases using digital cameras are stored in a format that can be transformed into QuickTime VR movies and then used to train inexperienced surveyors. This paper describes a prototype application using case‐based‐reasoning virtual reality and multimedia authoring technologies. The architecture of the system is described and some details of the methodology used are discussed. An iterative approach is used to develop the system and validate it.

In this commentary academic editor Mike Hoxley offers one vision of the future. Questions whether virtual reality will be used for the training of surveyors in the future.